Stage set for all-time great Alpine ski season

Oct 16, 2025·Alpine Skiing

Can Marco Odermatt hold off the best of the rest once more? @AgenceZoom

From Franjo von Allmen (SUI/Head) to Zrinka Ljutic (CRO/Atomic) and Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (BRA/Atomic) to Alice Robinson (NZL/Salomon) the next generation of Alpine skiing headliners are clearly ready to roll.

But it is not easy to take over. Not when a host of the sport’s most iconic names seem in no mood to stand aside.

Add in the long-awaited comeback of several huge stars, the resumption of era-defining duels and the not so small matter of a looming Olympic Winter Games, and you have all the ingredients that make the coming season unmissable.

The best news? The waiting is nearly over. The snow report from Sölden, Austria is good and on 25-26 October the world’s best Giant Slalom (GS) skiers will go head-to-head in the opening Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup stop.

Ljutic headlines chasing pack

In one corner of the women’s field Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic) and Lindsey Vonn (USA/Head) – the two most successful female World Cup skiers ever – stand with the likes of reigning Super G Olympic gold medallist Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI/Head) and four-time Downhill World Cup champion Sofia Goggia (ITA/Atomic). In the other, Ljutic, Robinson, Camille Rast (SUI/Head) and Emma Aicher (GER/head) bounce around throwing lightening punches.

Aicher emerged in 2025 as the sport’s newest all-round superstar. The German won in Downhill and Super G, before grabbing four World Cup top-10 finishes in Slalom.

While Ljutic cannot yet match her fellow 21-year-old’s range of skills, she is the reigning Slalom World Cup champion. And she has a word of warning for rivals young and old.

Summer was great. I had good preparation on skis and off skis. I was in Ushuaia (Chile) for a long time and I improved in some aspects of physical fitness and some technical stuff on skis and now it’s just about transferring it all on to skis and some other aspects. But I feel ready.– Zrinka Ljutic

Fans may well be ready for another battle between the young Croat and rival Rast. Like Ljutic, the Swiss skier started 12 months ago without a World Cup win but by the time she hit the beach, she was Slalom world champion and a double World Cup victor.

Three years her junior, Robinson knows just what it is like to shake up the established order. The GS specialist did it as a teenager and last season emerged once more to push the all-conquering Federica Brignone (ITA/Rossignol) mighty close.

Shiffrin ready to race

The sad absence of the brilliant Brignone – out with a broken leg until at least the new year – blows the race for the women’s Overall World Cup title wide open. As does the news the 101-time World Cup winner Shiffrin will focus on the technical events, with a possible Super G return later in the season.

“Right now I feel really positive and energetic,” said Shiffrin, who managed to grab two record-extending World Cup victories late last season after recovering from a traumatic crash in Killington, USA in November 2024.

“Sometimes that also makes me feel scared. What if it doesn’t go well and then I would be really embarrassed, kind of. But for now I feel really grateful to be positive and energetic.

“The next step is racing and it’s time to do that now.”

Goggia an all-round threat

Shiffrin’s scheduling decision and Brignone’s absence would appear to leave the way open for the almost ageless Gut-Behrami in what will be her final shift. While last season may not have quite lived up to 2024’s spectacular triple Globe-winning efforts, three wins (two S-G and one GS) plus a further seven podiums across three disciplines was not too shabby.

Like Gut-Behrami, Italy’s Goggia will be looking for to grab a second Olympic title come February, but the 32-year-old could also be a surprise rival for the big Globe. Her efforts on the GS skis courting attention last time out – two top-five finishes the highlights.

I’ve been focusing just on the technique in Ushuaia and this never happened. I’ve been in Ushuaia 13 times in my life but I’ve never been just skiing GS the whole camp...To ski my best in Downhill and Super G (is the aim) and to try to get to the podium in GS. I am not hiding this. – Sofia Goggia

Teammates lead charge to upset Odi

On the men’s side no battle better sums up the challenge between the established greats and the all-firing young guns than Marco Odermatt (SUI/Stöckli) attempting to hold off his fellow Swiss speedsters.

Four Crystal Globes for the second successive season gives some idea of Odermatt’s recent dominance. But it does not paint the full picture.

The 28-year-old did once again stand comfortably clear of the field in the GS, grabbing three wins and four podium places in nine races - statistics that make him an overwhelming favourite in Sölden’s opener.

But on the speed skis things were different. Very different.

The now 24-year-old von Allmen started last season with a best World Cup Downhill finish of fifth. He ended it having won twice, finished second twice and having missed out on wrestling the Globe from his storied teammate by just 28 points. Oh, and he is the newly crowned world champion.

If that was not enough competition for Odermatt, von Allmen’s great mate Alexis Monney (SUI/Stöckli) will head to February’s Olympic Games in Bormio as the Stelvio’s most recent World Cup Downhill winner.

Braathen ready to shine

A word of warning; do not trust anyone who tells you the name of the next men’s Slalom World Cup champion. Three Norwegians, a Frenchman, a Swiss and a Brazilian made up the top six in the standings last year and all of them will fancy being top dog this season.

Perhaps the one who finished sixth, Pinheiro Braathen is the skier they should fear the most.

“As an athlete you have to suffer a bit that uncertainty and that nervousness that comes in with opening the doors to a new year,” the 25-year-old said.

“But if you are able to channel that with positivity and know that this lands with excitement over at the fans you can start growing a positive and constructive relationship with it and channel it into your performance and make sure you’re the guy that puts on a show.”

Kilde sees the light

As if all this is not enough, there are a proven winners preparing to throw their names back in the season-long mix.

Few have challenged Shiffrin on slalom skis in the past decade but Petra Vlhova (SVK/Rossignol) is certainly one of them. Out with injury since January 2024, the Slovak is not only hopeful she will get the chance to defend her Olympic title but will also ski as full a season as possible.

Marcel Hirscher’s (NED/Van Deer) trophy cabinet is even fuller than Vlhova’s and he too is back training on snow and looking to grab headlines once more.

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR/Atomic) may just beat him to the startline, with the big Norwegian targeting the men’s Downhill in Beaver Creek on 4 December after more than 18 months on the sideline.

Thinking about being competitive, I think that’s the biggest question right now. I need the next couple of months to be really structured and do my work but also enjoy it. I really do enjoy the process right now. It’s really fun also because I start to see a little bit of a light.”– Alesander Aamodt Kild

We know just what he means. The countdown is on. See you on 25 October.